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Dreams and Sighs
Of Strange Oaths is a short story written for Seanan McGuire's Patreon supporters. Then let us teach our trial patience, Because it is a customary cross, As due to love as thoughts and dreams and sighs, Wishes and tears, poor fancy’s followers. --William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream Author's Summary When a king is no longer a king, what is he? Tybalt has left London. Will London ever truly leave him? Plot Tybalt arrives in Armorica (kingdom) still injured from his fight with Hermeline, and is greeted by the kingdom's Cait Sidhe, who hold no court of their own, and do not regard him as a king. Tybalt is fine with this, as he had only ever held kingship for the sake of his sisters and the Cait Sidhe of Londinium. The lack of a Cait Sidhe monarch, however, had weakened the hold on the Shadow Roads in Armorica. Sheltered in Armorica's guest chambers, Tybalt pays for his keep by ridding the royal palace of its rat infestation. Striding through the halls of the palace, Tybalt passes by several of the housemaids, who are mostly comprised of France's local Korrigan and Morgen as well as Hob and Daoine Sidhe changelings. Tybalt inwardly expresses his disdain for the concept of mortal changelings. He enters Queen Morane's throne room, and she greets him by his childhood kitten name "Rand", which he corrects to "Tybalt", troubled from the seeming lack of memory which Morane had always had as a child, having explained the name change to her previously. He jests about missing the radiance of her presence, and she shoots him down, along with the concept of her courting anyone at all, to the surprise and dismay of her courtiers. Tybalt expresses his desire to roam about the lands of Armorica, and Morane allows it, saying that any who question his presence may answer to her. He changes to his cat form and leaps into the shadows, forcing them to open up just that much wider. He runs against his limits and chooses a forest exit over a domicile one. He is surprised to find himself in the end of an enchanted Spring, rather than in the midst of Winter as it had been at the palace. The clearing contains raised garden beds, one of them full of fairly standard herbs such as St. John's wort and snakeroot, mushrooms, and chocolate mint, and another full of blooming poppies and tiny white strawberries. Tybalt hides to watch as a housemaid enters the garden, smelling of lavender and sweet chestnut flower, and wrapped in a human disguise. She harvests a basketful of herbs and simples, then leaves the clearing. Tybalt ponders whether the Shadow Roads may have led him to the clearing on purpose. He follows the housemaid's tracks in the snow for a while before they abruptly disappear, leaving behind the scent of yarrow which denotes a Tylwyth Teg, strange enough in its presence so far from Wales. The tracks indicate that the housemaid had been picked up/fetched by a second person. Tybalt uses the rest of the night to hunt down two hares and a pheasant, which he delivers to Lady Enora, the Reynard who works in the kitchen. He offers the spoils of his hunt as a contribution towards the evening meal, on the condition that he gets a taste. Enora accepts the offering reluctantly, and tries to dismiss Tybalt, but he asks her what he'd done to offend her so. She explains that the beast-shifters such as Cait Sidhe, Cu Sidhe, and Reynard, are always in danger of being turned upon and hunted down, while Tybalt flaunts his nature in front of those who would see it as a reason to despise him, and by extension, Enora. She tries again to dismiss Tybalt, who shoves his foot in the door in order to apologize for his brazenness, and to ask about the strange garden he had found. She confirms that it doesn't belong to her, and warns that its contents don't sound like anything benign. Tybalt returns to his quarters to find something appropriate to wear for dinner, as Armorica traditions dictate that it must be real, rather than spun from illusions or enchantments. He alters a blouse and takes a bath to chase away the last of the chill from the Shadow Roads. He muses over his ties to London/Londinium, and over the succession of Cait Sidhe vs. the bloodlines of the Divided Courts, until he is summoned to dinner. Remembering Enora's words, Tybalt goes on two legs. He is surprised to find his usual seat occupied by the visiting King Alban of Letauia, who seems to be drooling over Morane. Tybalt bows to Morane as he asks where to sit, and she seems surprised to see him, thinking he'd returned to Londinium. Tybalt, of course, finds this extremely odd and concerning, as Morane had been the one to tell him about Hermeline's reign. Just as he's turning to go to his seat, Tybalt scents the magic of the housemaid he'd seen in the garden, and finds her pouring a carafe of wine for the Queen, now revealed to be a Daoine Sidhe changeling. He catches her and calls for the court alchemist to test the wine for poison, on the basis of his keen nose picking up traces of what he'd seen growing in the garden. Tybalt accuses King Alban as the king grows increasingly guilty-looking, and the king tries to shed the blame onto the changeling housemaid. Tybalt accuses him next of hypocrisy, for having intentions of bearing children with Morane when September Torquill's were unfit to rule due to their mixed heritage. The king claims to have access to a Hope Chest. Enora brings in a Morgen alchemist, who tests the wine and finds it to be a primitive love potion, which, if delivered over the course of weeks, could confuse Morane's memory and dull her senses, preparing the way for something better. Tybalt threatens Alban into leaving, and then asks after the fate of the changeling housemaid, who will likely be put to death. During the next week, Tybalt returns to the forest clearing garden, and finds its enchanted Spring broken once more into Winter, the herbs and simples now shriveled and dead. At the end of the week, Tybalt is informed that Queen Morane has recovered her senses, and extends her hospitality to him indefinitely in recognition of his saving her from being poisoned. She summons Tybalt to the throne room for the sentencing of the changeling girl. Tybalt jumps there through the Shadows, questions the origins of the carafe's contents, and calls upon Morane's supposed debt to him in order to spare the changeling's life, claiming it as his own. He takes her back to his quarters, which had grown a new room to accommodate the girl. He berates her for being willing to take the Queen's choice of bed from her, when the girl had been so appalled by the notion when it had seemed as though Tybalt had done the same. Abashed, she gives her name to be Rozenn. Tybalt bids her to stay in the chambers until further notice, then dismisses her and goes to sleep. Date (see Timeline) January, 1715 Characters *Tybalt *Queen Morane *Enora *King Alban *Rozenn Mentioned only *Privela *September Torquill Locations (see List of Faerie Kingdoms, Duchies, Realms) *Brittany *France *Wales *Kingdom of Armorica *Shadow Roads Mentioned only *Kingdom of Letauia *Kingdom of Londinium See also *Cait Sidhe Category:Patreon Stories Category:Short Stories